ISLAMORADA -- The Village Council last week signed off on two purchase agreements, accepted a report on the north Plantation Key wastewater system and approved a three-company library of sewer work contractors despite the protest of Vice Mayor Michael Reckwerdt to delay the meeting until three newly elected councilmen could be seated.

"It's the choice between the reasonable and respectful thing to do or not," Reckwerdt said at the beginning of the Thursday March 11 lame-duck council session as councilmen-elect Ken Philipson, Dave Purdo and Bob Johnson looked on from the cheap seats.

He called instead for the meeting to be delayed until this past Monday, March 15, which would have allowed time for the results of the March 9 elections to be certified. Doing so, he said, would have resulted in the new council being seated 10 days sooner than their scheduled swearing in at the March 25 council meeting.

"Should any issues arise it would be nice to be able to go ahead and get them into their chairs," Reckwerdt said.

The vice mayor's argument resonated with outgoing Councilman Dave Boerner, but his motion was rejected by Mayor Don Achenberg, who was re-elected last week, as well by councilwomen Jill Zima Borski and Deb Gillis, who were not.

"It is what it is," Borski said. "We all knew that going into this, and here we are tonight."

Gillis said it was important for the council meeting to go on so that items could be moved forward promptly -- a point that was underscored moments later when north Plantation Key resident Larry Barr implored the council to quickly fix the crushed vacuum cans in his north Plantation Key neighborhood. The council responded to that request by instructing the utilities department to cover the hole that has sat in Barr's right-of-way since he was forced to delay plans to hook up to the sewer earlier this winter.

"I think we need to move ahead. I don't think there are any major decisions here," Gillis said.

With Reckwerdt's motion defeated, the council unanimously approved the three relatively minor legislative matters before it last week. Council members voted for the purchase of a $62,000 back-up generator for the new Village Hall at Founders Park. They also approved the purchase of a $28,000 pump out for Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina and enrolled three contractors that could be used for emergency sewer repairs, like the one north Plantation Key resident Barr wanted to see dealt with.

The council also listened to a presentation on the north Plantation Key system from Village Manager Ken Fields, who reported that the system is working well despite some ongoing operational issues.

Council members accepted the report with little discussion. Reckwerdt, who railed against the system's multiple problems a month earlier, said he would reserve comment until the new council is seated.

rsilk@keysnews.com